Winner

Aaron Kim, 16, from Tacoma, Wash., selected an article from the Effectively part headlined “Easy methods to Make a Staycation Really feel Like an Precise Break” and wrote:

It’s late July already. However, for a lot of the summer season, it felt prefer it had not even began. Every day of my break had been a lot just like the earlier one — getting up at 9 a.m., engaged on school apps till 5 p.m., after which enjoying video video games till sleep took me — it was as if there had been no summer season in any respect, no time passing in a residing world.

That is considered one of my final summers as a excessive schooler. I couldn’t assist however ask myself: What, if something, could possibly be completed to make it particular?

Studying Catherine Pearson’s article made me understand that the reply was proper in entrance of me. She cites Dr. Lyubomirsky’s idea of the “three buckets” of happiness (social connections, significant contributions and private development) to advocate prioritizing actions in and round one’s fast environment that fulfill a number of of those classes.

This weekend, I volunteered at my native church’s meals drive. By no means previously would I’ve related such exercise with something like a trip. However I endeavored to think about it as one, enacting the “psychological flip” Dr. Kurtz describes. And I did so not solely to meaningfully join with different volunteers and the individuals we served, but in addition with a view to spend my time engaged in one thing that mattered to me. For the primary time this summer season, I felt alive. And but so nice part of that vivacity got here from the straightforward conviction that what I used to be doing was an finish in itself, like going to the seaside on trip.

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Runners-Up

In alphabetical order by the author’s first identify.

Angelina W. on “China Took Her Husband. She Was Left to Uncover His Secret Trigger”

Brian on “Why Do Mosquitoes Like Me So A lot?”

Hannah W. on “The True Risk of Synthetic Intelligence”

Michelle L. on “Ladies in Taiwan Are Uninterested in Being Good”

Minseok C. “Even ‘Secure’ Locations Are Experiencing Local weather Chaos in America”

Honorable Mentions

Alice Z. on “Goodbye, Outdated Buddy”

Andrew on “Throughout My Divorce, Shut Associates Grew to become a Parachute”

Avianna R. on “Pupil Can’t Put on Sash of Mexican and U.S. Flags at Commencement, Choose Guidelines”

Daisy L. on “A Lengthy, Shining River of Verse, Flowing From a Rower and Author”

Ethan Z. on “I Love You, Now Depart Me Alone: What Friendship Means to an Introvert”